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I’ve finally done it. I went and “ran the lakes” on Sunday. It really is a lovely place to run. The trail is changing and interesting, lots of little hills to challenge as well.Being my first trip around I really had no idea what to expect, which was kind of exciting as well. I usually run on flat roads, so this was much different, and kept me guessing. I loved the smell of the wet, westcoast forest. It took me back, and smelled like “home”. I grew up on some farmland that extended up the front of Mount Douglas here in Victoria. So that wet wood really is home to me.

I did manage to get lost, though. I feel pretty silly, considering it is a LOOPED and MARKED trail, and still I managed to go wrong somehow. I went wide out from the lake through some kind of equestrian training area. Cool, but not the designated trail. By the time I got to around 11km (on a 10k loop) I realized something was wrong. I could see the lake, and was on the trail, but I had no idea if I had under, or over-shot the parking lot I started from. Luckily my new GPS watch has a very easy to use mapping feature. I hadn’t gotten that far in the instruction booklet, but I managed to pull up a map, see where I was, and see that I was just around the corner from where I was trying to get to. Saved by the Garmin! In all, I ran 11.27km. My longest run yet!

I also ran without music this time. I always run with music, always. I brought my walkman, and had planned to listen, but somehow changed my mind. I thought I’d start out without and plug in later if I felt like it. And I didn’t really feel like it, until nearing the end. By then, I was pleased with myself for not using the tunes, so I held out and ran without. I still like my music, but I was happy to see that I could run without it and enjoy myself!

It’s the night before my big race. It’s “just a 10k” and not a serious one at that, as the TC 10K is known as a welcoming, fun run. But for me it’s big. I’ve been training hard, with an awesome coach, for nearly 4 months now. I’m a much stronger, fitter, smarter runner now, and I’m looking forward to seeing just what I can do tomorrow. I’m a bit nervous, as I feel a lot of pressure to do well, prove to myself that all this effort has been worth it.

I ran my last 10k, 2 years ago, in 1:11:30. |I was pleased with that because I “ran” the whole way, and finished the race. Two years ago that was a huge accomplishment for me. This time around, I’m hoping for a lot more.

Here’s my playlist for the race. I like starting with Adele, she’s so powerful and her voice lifts me, gets me going. I want to hit 5k before “Heads will Roll” is over, and Billy Idol should bring me to the final kilometer. If I don’t finish with Shakira, the white stripes will let me power home, and I’ll recover to “Written in the stars”

I’ve been thinking about a playlist for my upcoming 10k race on May 1st (tc10k.ca). I’ve tried for upbeat music when I run, not exactly to pace, but just for encouragement and that wee bit of distraction to keep my mind of fatigue and discomfort. I change it up a lot to prevent boredom, but it’s overall pretty random what I’ll listen to on a given day. I’ve enjoyed 101 Running Songs which is a 5 CD set, ripped to my MP3 player.

Lately I’m finding the pace of the music counter productive to trying to pace myself on runs, though. I feel like I’m drawn to run at the BMP of the music. That’s a good thing if the pace is right (or a teeny bit fast) but not if it’s too slow. And I’m not sure what my pace is in terms of BPM, so it’s hard to know what to do with my music now. I’ve been turning the volume down a little so it’s more background and that’s helping. I’m not ready to run without music, though.

What do you have on your running playlist? I’m heavily influenced by Top-40, and that shows in my lists. Let me know what you listen to, I’d love some new ideas